McGill-Toolen 77, Murphy 75: Yellow Jackets rally to top Panthers, force tie for area top spot
Posted January 28, 2015
MOBILE, Alabama – Harris Chambers' free throw with 4 seconds sealed fifth-rankedMcGill-Toolen's 77-75 win over fourth-rankedMurphy on the road Tuesday evening in Class 7A, Area 2 play.
The win by the Yellow Jackets forced a tie for the regular season championship so a coin toss will determine who hosts the area tournament next week.
McGill (23-4, 5-1) was led in scoring by Rene Scott with 19 points. Logan Cooney had 17 andDeion Dozier added nine.
For Murphy (21-5, 5-1), Cameron Grepke had a game-high 30 points. Kajuan Patterson had 12, Cameron Johnson had 11 and Justin Edwards had 10.
McGill trailed by 14 points at halftime but rallied back to finally pull ahead in the fourth quarter to win.
McGill outscored Murphy 24-18 in the third quarter and only trailed 58-50 heading into the final eight minutes of action. The Yellow Jackets then outscored the Panthers 27-17 in the final period.
McGill eventually tied the game up at 71-71 thanks to a bucket by Dozier with 2:10 left to play and pulled ahead for good moments later with 1:45 to go when Dozier hit a bucket and a free throws to make it 74-71.
"We just came out in the second half and played Yellow Jacket basketball,” McGill coach Phillip Murphy said. “We never quit and that's because the kids we have are winners. I'm proud of them. They definitely kept their composure at the end when the game was on the line. We had no uncharacteristic turnovers there at the end."
The Panthers were ahead 18-12 after the opening quarter and the lead grew to 40-26 at halftime thanks to Murphy's torrid perimeter shooting.
"Murphy manhandled us in the first half," Murphy said. "They beat us in every facet of the game. They hit their outside shots. They nailed seven 3-pointers in the game and hit four of those in the first half. That makes a big difference. They do a great job."
